"It indicates the union of the Eastern and Western empires," the Doctor answered, "the same as does the double-headed eagle of Austria. The device was adopted about four centuries ago by Ivan III., after his marriage with Sophia, a princess of the Imperial blood of Constantinople.
"By-the-way," the Doctor continued, "there's a story of an Imperial grand-duke who went one day on a hunting excursion, the first of his life, and fired at a large bird which rose before him. The bird fell, and was brought by a courtier to the noble hunter.
"'Your Imperial Highness has killed an eagle,' said the courtier, bowing low and depositing the prey on the ground.
"The grand-duke looked the bird over carefully, and then turned away with disdain. 'That's no eagle,' said he, 'it has only one head.'"
What our young friends saw in the Gostinna Dvor will be told in the next chapter.
[CHAPTER VI.]
THE GOSTINNA DVOR.—ITS EXTENT AND CHARACTER.—PECULIARITY OF RUSSIAN SHOPPING.—CURIOUS CUSTOMS.—OLD-CLOTHES MARKET.—HAY-MARKET.—PIGEONS IN RUSSIAN CITIES.—FROZEN ANIMALS.—CHURCH AND MONASTERY OF ST. ALEXANDER NEVSKI.—A PERSIAN TRAIN.—A COFFIN OF SOLID SILVER.—THE SUMMER GARDEN.—SPEAKING TO THE EMPEROR.—KRILOFF AND HIS FABLES.—VISIT TO A RUSSIAN THEATRE.—"A LIFE FOR THE CZAR."—A RUSSIAN COMEDY.
"Before I describe the Gostinna Dvor of St. Petersburg," said Fred in his note-book, "let me premise by saying that every Russian city or town has an establishment of the same kind. It is a good deal more than the market-place with us, and seems to combine the bazaars of the East with the shops of the West. In an ordinary town the Gostinna Dvor occupies a single large building at or near the centre of population; the larger the town or city the greater will be the commercial needs of the people, and consequently a city like Moscow or St. Petersburg will have a Gostinna Dvor that dwarfs all ordinary markets into insignificance.